Grayle the Farstrider (Circle Orboros)
Abilities: Pathfinder, Side Step, Sprint, Stealth, Elite Cadre: Wolves of Orboros gain Hunter
Weapons: Double Swords,Weapon Master x2
Spells: Awareness, Gallows, Storm Rager, Windblast
Feat: (The Darkest Night) - Freindly Faction models in Grayle's Control area gain Stealth. When a Friendly Faction model in Grayle's Control Area destroys a model with a melee attack, another Friendly Faction model in your Control area may advance up to 3" once. The Darkest Night lasts for one round.
The name of Grayle's game is pressure. He lays on the pressure with several things. First, he gives a basic and cheap, Reach, SPD 6, Pathfinder infantry unit the Hunter ability. This means that Wolves of Orboros can charge with an 11" threat through forests. That's a major and common terrain piece that can't be relied upon for defensive measures. His feat also gives these Wolves Stealth and basically army-wide Warpath. This means that if Grayle pops his feat with these Wolves charging, they are rocking a solid MAT 8 with 9+4d6 damage rolls. These guys can trigger the feat movements and really jam an enemy army with cheap, Reach guys. Next, he blows away clouds and gives his Battle group the ability to ignore clouds, forests, intervening models and 360 vision. This means that he can negate Jarl's feat entirely, and he wants two things for his BG; a Warpwolf Stalker and a Geomancer.
The Stalker has Reach, Pathfinder and is fast and dangerous when he can draw LOS through forests. In terms of Geomancers, Megalith is good because his animus reducing DEF on enemies is great for helping to trigger kills for the feat turn, but I find a basic Woldwarden to be better because he can lay down a forest template, move, geomance a Gallows or cycle Storm Rager and the Stalker can charge through the forest and cause some mayhem before using Lightning Strike to sprint back to the forest for Stealth thanks to Prowl. Grayle himself wants at least 1-2 good targets for Storm Rager and he has them in himself, Tharn Ravager White Mane, the Lord of the Feast, but I think Wolf Lord Morraig is the best. Storm Rager+Flank with those Wolves you were taking means that, on a charge, he's SPD 11 MAT 12 and P+S 15+5d6. You have Wolves jamming the enemy so he can easily pull off flank. On average he hits DEF 19-20 and does a total POW 32-33. Assuming most Warcasters and Warlocks are ARM 15-16 with HP 15-17, he just nabbed you the game.
Jarl Skuld, Devil of the Thornwood (Trollbloods)
Abilities: Evasive, Gunfighter, Pathfinder, Swift Hunter, Tough
Weapons: Rune Pistols, Black Penny
Spells: Magic Bullet, Quicken, Tactical Supremacy, Weald Secrets
Feat: (Rolling Fog) - Place d3+3 AOE 4 cloud effects anywhere within Jarl's Control Area. While within the clouds, Friendly Faction models may move through terrain and intervening models if they have enough movement to do so. Enemy models suffer -2 to attack rolls while within the clouds.
Jarl Skuld is damn terrifying because he makes Trolls super-stupid-mega fast. The first thing I see is that with Quicken the Fennblades are charging 13" and with Reach are touching something 15" away. Quicken on the Kriel Warriors is really sweet because if they use the +2" movement prayer, then they are running 16" The Cabers are engaging from 18" away. The next thing I think of is that he reboots Champions more than when we learned the Krielstone could run and aura in the same turn! I think Champs+Skaldi+Tactical Supremacy is super sweet. Skaldi gives them Overtake, so with 2 attacks a piece they each go and blow away 2 infantry models and TacSup reforms them back 3" to get some Defensive Line. The next thing I see is that Jarl is designed to support melee-based armies.
Yes, he has guns. No, he's not Caine. Shut up. Those RAT 7, auto-Black Penny pistols can help clear the chaff off of your models so that their movement can continue uninhibited. Throw in Magic Bullet and we have some real shenanigans. Magic Bullet on himself means he can clear off 2 models a pop or reach out and blow away support stuff behind enemy lines. The best Magic Bullet targets, in my humble opinion; are the Impaler (who he should be taking all the time anyway) because the extra attack from the spell happens after you resolve the critical slam, reaching out to something even further back, and the Dire Troll Blitzer because his range is longer and he can make ranged and melee attacks in the same activation. Repulsion is also a strong animus that can free up Jarl if need be. His feat is an amazing one, granting more movement, protecting you from counter-attack, or even just dominating in scenario because he can help your forces rush to a control point with little opposition. Be careful, because Grayle and Epic Vlad have Wind Blast, which can blow away your clouds!
Kallus, Wrath of Everblight (Legion of Everblight)
Abilities: Hyper Regeneration, Soulless, Unconquerable(grants Unyielding to Friendly Faction models in his CMD range)
Weapons: Cool Looking Greatsword, Reach, Flame Burst
Spells: Dark Guidance, Flashing Blade, Ignite, Eruption
Feat: Host of Angels - Replace disabled non-Incubi Friedly Faction Living Warrior models with Incubi. Friendly Soulless Warrior models gain +2 DEF. Lasts for one round.
Kallus makes me really want to take Legionnaires, Warmongers and Scytheans. Why? Because Legionnaires are a 4/6 unit that can get ARM 18 thanks to Defensive Line and Unconquerable. Because Warmongers are a 5/8 unit with ARM 18 and 8 wounds a piece. Next, Scytheans, why? Because he has Dark Guidance, a spell that grants a additional die to melee attack rolls. Scytheans have a pair of P+S 17 Reach with a Chain Attack that is basically a Thresher. Next, those Legionnaires and Warmongers appreciate melee boosts given that they are melee units and the Warmongers' Berserk is much more likely to trigger and kill more enemies if they are hitting more consistently. Next, Ignite can boost your infantry's melee damage rolls by +2, meaning that Legionnaires and Warmongers are P+S 12 and 16 respectively. That's pretty gross. So Flashing Blade and Eruption. Flashing Blade is a fantastic spell for anyone with Reach, let alone MAT 7 and P+S 14. Add Dark Guidance and you can have MAT 7+3d6 to hit with that pseudo-Thresher. Eruption is interesting for magic attack spell, it creates a POW 14 Fire damage cloud that stays in play for one round. This means that is you aren't casting Dark guidance you can throw out this template and use it to disrupt enemy movement and hopefully catch an enemy in it. POW 14 is nothing to scoff at.
His feat, Host of Angels, replaces your BOXED infantry with an Incubi, not only does this bypass a few effects, but you can get Incubi without paying for them and get your infantry effectively twice! There is also some good synergy here because as your opponent kills your high-ARM infantry, they are replaced by high-DEF Soulless Incubi! Incubi have MAT 7 and 2 P+S 11 claws that combo-strike to P+S 14. More Dark Guidance abuse? Hell yes! Don't forget, Kallus and his non-Nephilim Warbeasts gain +2 DEF with all of those Incubi. For Warbeasts, he can run beast-light thanks to Hyper Regeneration healing him d3 every turn so you can afford to leech from yourself a point or two. He loves Shredders because that animus bumps himself and them up to DEF 17 and 16 respectively on feat turn. Combine Rabid and Dark Guidance to turn them into super accurate missiles. He looks powerful and fun!
Master Ascetic Naaresh (Skorne)
Abilities: Blood Trade, Flagellant(auto-hit by friendly melee attacks), Pain Monger(gains 1 Blood Token when damaged by Friendly Faction models. For each Blood Token he gets +1 STR and ARM, the tokens last until the next Control Phase), Tough
Weapons: Katara
Spells: Bleed, Cyclone, Iron Flesh, Lamentation
Feat: Naaresh may inflict 1 point of damage to each aspect on a Warbeast in his Battle Group, healing 1 point for each that he deals out. For each point of damage inflicted, the Warbeasts gain +1 STR and ARM up to a max of +3. Lasts for one round.
Ok so this guy has some really neat things going on. The more I think about him the more I think he's a Beast 'lock. His feat is completely geared towards just making Skorne Warbeasts hit like bigger mack trucks. Bronzeback Titans at P+S 20 ARM 22?, Titan Gladiators at P+S 19 ARM 22, Molik Karn at P+S 16 Weapon Master ARM 21? Cyclops Savages at P+S 16 ARM 20? Hell yes. Bring. it. on. This piece of information comes in later after we discuss Flagellant and Pain Monger. I recommend taking 2 minimum units of Paingiver Beast Handlers, they can auto-hit Naaresh for up to 5 Blood Tokens. The thing is that they have Anatomical Precision so even if they don't break ARM (which you don't want them to) they can still trigger Pain Monger and buff Naaresh's STR and ARM. So...if Naaresh likes Paingivers, and his feat likes Beasts, Naaresh is geared towards supporting Warbeasts. This isn't exact here, just my initial thoughts after looking at him and if you doubt me, think about those Warbeasts I listed earlier with another +2 STR.
So Cyclone is a great spell that makes him very mobile and allows him to shred through infantry and fight on the front lines and still get out of dangerous situations. Lamentation and Iron Flesh, though awesome, do look a little our of place when he seems so beasts geared, but he can use IF to protect himself or an infantry screen. I recommend Praetorian Swordsmen or Nihilators as they are melee-capable and cheap units (this means more points towards Beasts and beast support). I feel like he should be using Blood Trade to upkeep Lamentation all game because if he's pressing through the enemy and forcing their spellcasting to be made more difficult, one would think a Warcaster would just camp Focus and laugh. Not really when you can sick super-mack-truck-feated-Titans on him. Yes, camping Warcasters aren't so bad and Naaresh is the new Warlock who is best equipped to deal with them.
Maelok the Dreadbound (Blindwater Congregation)
Abilities: Amphibious, Cull Soul, Undead, Terror
Weapons: Claws, Bite, Soul Eater
Spells; Death Pact (target friendly model/unit gains Undead and +2 ARM, upkeep), Malediction, Revive, Venom.
Feat: Friendly Faction models gain Incorporeal for one turn. Friendly Faction Undead models gain +2 ARM for one round.
Maelok's biggest problem right now is that he is limited by a small faction with few choices. The ARM bonus of his feat is limited because right now to only himself, Feralgeists and, at beast, a full unit of Gatormen Posse with Death Pact. He certainly wants to bring the fight to the enemy, giving Gators Incorporeal for a turn is brutal because that allows them to charge and infiltrate the enemy lines without reprise. Malediction effectively makes Maelok MAT 8 and P+S 14 on his three initial attacks. Although he is only SPD 5 and has no SPD buffs, making himself Incorporeal, he can really be a credible threat to whatever he wants and if he finishes off a Warbeast with his bite he can suck the FURY points right off of it for himself and have plenty of transfers. Venom is an odd spell for him because a spray indicates an anti-infantry edge and Revive is an amazing spell for attrition purposes. He can shoot Venom through his multiwound Posse and use Revive to return them to play. Terror, Death Pact, Spiny Growth and transfers protect him well enough but he doesn't seem to have the tools to seal the deal right now.
He's an interesting Warlock because you know he's solid and everything about him is solid. However, he doesn't have any real access to Undead for his feat, which is the biggest issue, and he really is limited by the small roster of Warbeasts available to the Blindwater Congregation. I think once we really see Domination come out and we know what Maelok gets that he can his undead hands on.
And the Thornfall Alliance Warlock is currently unknown. All we know is that he also has FURY 6 and could potentially be a Cavalry model.
Ok, the first thing that we should all notice is that they are all FURY 6, signaling that their primary focus will not be spell blasting or running large Battle Groups without some real Warbeast support. In fact, each Warlock appears to be very resilient and wants to play roughly mid-field, almost on the front-line in a few cases at first glance. These Warlocks are all, in some way, melee-focused. This, depending on what Domination brings us, means that the Meta-Game will be shifting away from ranged combat and more towards melee clashes. No matter what we see, Domination will be a game-changer for Hordes and its impact will be felt on the Warmachine side as well.
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